This paper reports the findings of the Danish case study on public debate, technology assessment and governance of xenotransplantation (XTP) conducted for the CIT-PART project (www.cit-part.at). The report is based on analysis of a range of different kinds of documents (newspaper reports, policy documents, research literature etc.) and 13 qualitative interviews conducted with persons engaged in different manners in the debates about XTP in Denmark such as scientists, regulators, politicians or technology assessment (TA) practitioners. The interviews were carried out in the period between November 2009 and September 2010. Furthermore, qualitative data material from an older study on public perceptions of biotechnology from 1999/2000 has briefly been revisited.

Files in this item: 2

The European Commission; INGINEUS; The Nordic Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education (NIFU); Department of Business and Politics; DBP; Department of Business and Politics; DBP(, 2011)

[More information]

[Less information]

Abstract:

The main objective of WP9 was to provide insights into inter-sectoral differences in drivers, degree and patterns of global innovation network formation. Three different sectors, each representing their own category in the influential Pavitt (1984) taxonomy, are chosen as cases. Thus, the WP provided insights into GIN formation in each of these sectors on their own and, by way of comparative analysis, lifted the analysis to a more general European level perspective. The main research questions were: What GIN patterns are forming in the selected sectors, and to what extent are these influenced (driven, constrained) by contextual conditions specific to these sectors?
The point of departure for this work package was the recognition that sectors diverge with respect to knowledge, cumulativeness and opportunity conditions. Existing empirical work e.g. show that the “global footprints” of different industries diverge according to the degree of tacitness and complexity of involved knowledge; according to degree of modularity of the product; and with the distribution of actors and environments globally which can be identified and towards which relevant linkages may be formed. Thus, different sectors face different tensions between centrifugal and centripetal forces of internationalization; which result in different patterns of international search, sourcing and collaboration. Understanding these are critical to the formulation of innovation policy in a context of globalization, as the patterns of GINs forming will determine home and host implications. National and EU level innovation policy must simultaneously account for the firm level need to interact and use the most competent and cost-effective partners world-wide; while ensuring that the linkages formed at this level strengthen rather than hollow out innovative capabilities at those same national and EU levels.